Teaching Old Drugs New Tricks

Innovative product development and technology consultancy firm Cambridge Consultants has collaborated with Clinigen Group to create a new way of identifying fresh market applications for drugs nearing the end of their product lifecycle.

Clinigen is committed to making further drug acquisitions, with a focus on rejuvenating product performance and extending product life by seeking new uses for drugs, extending their geographical sales footprint or reformulating them. Targeted products are niche, hospital-only, mature or end-of-lifecycle drugs.

As part of a six-month project, Cambridge Consultants built a bespoke acquisition database of 4,000 drugs, and screened and ranked them – identifying 150-180 potential targets. A shortlist was then drawn up of 20 hospital-only drugs that would be suitable for more detailed commercial discussions. The process included the analysis of clinical data and interviews with key opinion leaders.

Peter George, chief executive officer of Clinigen, said: “Identifying new drugs is vital to our unique business model and our mission to supply the right drug to the right patient at the right time. Working with Cambridge Consultants allowed us to ensure we developed the most robust and effective process that speeds up decision making to identify drugs to license and bring to market faster with consistent and measured market analysis.”

Clinigen has identified numerous product opportunities from the acquisition database, a number of which are being actively pursued.

Kate Hudson-Farmer, senior consultant at Cambridge Consultants, said: “New critical life-saving treatments are rarely found by serendipity and require strict search and selection processes. Combining these with our market analysis and strategy support, we’ve been able to help Clinigen breathe new life into old drugs.”